Ronnie Ortiz-Magro is sharing his thoughts on mental health after being let off the hook for felony domestic violence charges.
The 35-year-old Jersey Shore star posted an anonymous quotation trying to destigmatize mental health issues to his Instagram Stories on Friday.
The reality star shared the statement without comment and didn’t specify whether he attributed his arrest on domestic violence charges to mental illness.
Jersey Shore star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, 35, shared an unsourced quotation about mental health to Instagram on Friday after he avoided a felony charge for an alleged domestic violence incident last month; seen in 2019 in New Jersey
Ortiz-Magro’s post was shared against a simple black background without embellishment.
‘It’s okay to feel unstable,’ begins the repetitive post. ‘It’s okay to disassociate. It’s okay to hide from the world. It’s okay to need help. It’s okay to not be okay. Your mental illness is not a personal failure.’
The reality star has previously admitted he struggled with mental health issues following a stint in rehab in early 2019 for depression and alcohol abuse.
‘I decided to go to treatment because I wanted to be a better person, a better father for my daughter,’ he told Us Weekly in February 2019.
Excuses: The reality star has previously admitted he struggled with mental health issues following a stint in rehab in early 2019 for depression and alcohol abuse
‘Eventually, all the bad decisions I was making were going to lead me to places that I didn’t want to be. I wanted to be led to the place that I am now — that’s happy, healthy and the best role model for my daughter.’
He shares his three-year-old daughter Ariana with his ex Jen Harley, 33, who reportedly drove through the night to pick up their daughter after Ortiz-Magro was arrested on April 22.
In the earlier interview, he described his alcohol addiction as a ‘chronic disease.’
‘It’s a progressive disease. I’m still struggling,’ he said. ‘You stop and you start up again, and it’s worse than when you stopped. You’re just like, “Wow, I thought I had this under control,” but at the end of the day, it has full control over you.’
Bad places: ‘Eventually, all the bad decisions I was making were going to lead me to places that I didn’t want to be,’ he told Us Weekly in 2019 following his rehab stint; seen in 2018 on GMA
Earlier this month, Police sources told TMZ that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office did not have sufficient evidence to charge the Jersey Shore personality with a felony for the April 22 incident with his girlfriend Saffire Matos, 30.
The case involving the Bronx-born reality star will be forwarded to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, which can only charge him with a misdemeanor, sources told the site.
‘If this reporting is true, as we said from the beginning, initial reports and unreviewed charges are often and, in Ronnie’s case, wrong,’ Magro’s lawyer Scott Leemon told TMZ. ‘We are glad the DA’s office made this decision not to charge a felony. We will await a decision from the County Attorney’s office.’
In the clear: Ortiz-Magro evaded a felony charge in connection with his latest domestic violence arrest last month in Los Angeles involving his girlfriend Saffire Matos, 30
The latest case could impact Ortiz-Magro’s ongoing probation in a separate domestic violence case he was involved with October 4, 2019 involving his ex-girlfriend Jen Harley, 32, with whom he shares daughter Ariana Sky, three.
In that case, the MTV personality made a plea deal, entering a guilty plea to seven misdemeanors in the incident, including domestic battery and resisting arrest.
In the incident last month, Saffire contacted authorities and said that Ortiz-Magro had gotten physical with her following an argument, according to the outlet.
Details: In the incident in April, Saffire contacted authorities and said that he had gotten physical with her following an argument
Consequences: The latest case could impact Ortiz-Magro’s ongoing probation in a separate domestic violence case he was involved with October 4, 2019 involving his ex-girlfriend Jen Harley
Police, citing injuries on Matos, took Ortiz-Magro into custody on suspicion of felony domestic violence.
Matos later took to Instagram Stories with a statement clarifying her take on the incident, and seemingly solidarity with Ortiz-Magro.
‘Ronnie and I are fine there is a lot misleading information floating around out there,’ she said. ‘With anybody who reached out with concern I appreciate it with all my heart, but everything that’s being portrayed out there are not facts.
Matos later took to Instagram Stories with a statement clarifying her take on the incident, and seemingly solidarity with Ortiz-Magro
In his statement, Ortiz-Magro thanked his ‘real friends’ for standing by him amid the troubled times
‘I don’t think it’s fair that people are using false accusations to gain attention. Please leave Ron and I alone. You don’t know what someone is going through at the end of the day. Don’t believe everything you hear or read online.’
In his statement, Ortiz-Magro thanked his ‘real friends’ for standing by him amid the troubled times.
‘Thank you for being by myself the last few [weeks],’ he said. ‘I take all experiences as lessons. You learn who really cares about you when [you’re] down and out and [then] you see who doesn’t! But I guess they call it the weeding process. Thank you to my real friends who haven’t left my side and haven’t betrayed me!’